So Friday we drove our little Smart Car down to Orvieto for a quick look-see at a town we'd never been to. Tammi's Italian teacher has cousins who live in the area and we had gifts to deliver. We thought a couple hours would be enough time to explore. Boy, were we wrong. That's a night or two kind of place so we'll be going back on our next trip (yes Mark and Joe, you heard right). The cathedral alone took two hours. Francesco and Francesca (Rosie's cousins) had invited us to stay at their villa in Fabro, so we headed north on the autostrada for the 20 minute drive. Note to self: accidentally putting the toll ticket in the money slot costs 50E and requires a special trip to the PuntoBlu office to clear the mess up.
Our host's villa is amazing. It was an abandoned old farmhouse they've been working 25 years on that now has the main house and 5 or 6 separate apartments, a huge recreational room, outdoor patios and BBQs, a pool, sun deck and 35 acres of fruit and olive trees. They rent it out for large groups. The apartment they put us in was WAY better than our Florence one and didn't smell like something died. Francesco and Francesca cooked a delicious dinner in their wood burning fireplace and we visited for quite a while over Umbrian wine and a cherry liquor with dessert. They were very gracious and welcoming and insisted we speak only Italian for practice. A very nice night and we woke up chipper despite the wine. We just don't get it. As we were leaving Francesco gave us a tour of the grounds and had us try figs from all his varieties. Tammi and I loved them but frantically started calculating how many bathroom stops there were on the autostrada. He had a lot of figs.
We drove back to Florence Saturday afternoon certain we'd have no trouble finding the rental car office coming in from a different direction. We're getting pretty good at driving here and Matteo, our trusty new friend at Sixt, mapped it all out for us. Sixt Florence, by the way, is the best car rental office ever (sorry Katy). It WOULD have been nice if Matteo had remembered that last little roundabout and jog across the river you have to make when he drew the map. That was critical and caused Navigator Tammi more than a little stress. Poor Matteo got a good ribbing for that one but Tam felt a whole lot better once he admitted it was HIS mistake. Anyway, dinner was at Gusta Osteria so we could say goodbye to Marizio, one of three brothers who run eateries in the piazza. Pascuale has Gusto Panini and we never made it to Gusta Pizza. As if we needed another reason to go back!
Sunday we decided to check out the international market in Piazza Santa Croce. It was only there for the weekend and showcased food and crafts from all over the world. Mom, you would have been in heaven. It wasn't on a stick but there was pork everywhere. The German section alone was mouthwatering and Spain was stirring up huge pots of paella. Poland claimed us with their sausage and roasted potatoes. It's a good thing we walked about 5 miles to get there. It's really less than a mile from the apartment and normally my internal GPS is spot on, but that morning we got stuck in the middle of about 5,ooo Asian tourists off the cruise ships and I think it jammed my radar.
Sunday night was our last opportunity to eat at the Borgo with Miguel, Andrea and Emelie. We both tried a new pasta dish, mine with clams, and I put Parmesan cheese on mine. Apparently putting parm on clams, even if they are over linguine, is a big fat Italian no- no. Just as I finished sprinkling the cheese Miguel walks over, sits down at our table, wags his finger at me and says " mai, mai, mai" and stopped just short of tossing my plate in the garbage like he did with our pizzas. Italians never, never, never put cheese on "fish". Remember Seinfeld's soup-nazi? That was Miguel with the Parmesan. Anyway, it was a perfect night and those guys were so great to sit with us throughout the evening, despite being so busy. It was hard to say goodbye. We are REALLY going to miss them and hope they find their way to Florida or Idaho one day soon. They have friends there now.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Italian leather bag?... $$$...Tuscan olive oil?...priceless!
Monday we headed up to the center of Florence to buy gifts. The markets are fun if you're savvy so we're bringing home goodies to share with some of you (you know who you are). We got the idea to try making pumpkin risotto, a Florentine specialty and bought all the fixings at the open air market. We can't yet speak Italian but we can cook it! It was a great dinner at home with a nice Chianti. Yumm.
Tuesday we broke down and went to Mama's bakery, a place down the street that caters to American clients. They sell bagels and muffins and large cups of American style coffee. We've been avoiding it like the plague. Turns out we should have gone there weeks ago. It was filled with ladies who've lived here for years and speak Italian at a speed we can understand. They had suggestions for everything, including the best way to mail packages back to the states. That one was key...we've bought a lot of olive oil. We went to the post office to check prices. That's an interesting system. You use a machine to select a specific activity and it gives you a number and letter combination. It's like Bingo because you wait for that combination to come up on a board and you go to the designated window to transact that specific activity. I wonder what happens if you want to do TWO things? Anyway, we understood enough Italian to realize shipping all that oil home meant we couldn't eat for two days, which might not have been a bad thing given the calories we're consuming. The average cost of each bottle is now about $100 but we had to buy it. You just can't get the same stuff at home. That's our story and we're sticking to it.
Tuesday night was our much anticipated pizza making lesson. Miguel prefaced it by stressing how hard it is to make good pizza, takes years of practice, it must be in the blood, etc. Seriousamente, how hard could it be? After watching him deftly hand shape, dress and bake a pizza in the wood oven in under three minutes we gave it a whirl. Twenty minutes later Miguel dramatically threw our efforts in the trash, handed us a rolling pin and said try again. He was right. Good pizza is hard to make but it was really fun to try. We finally turned out a couple good enough that Tammi ate an entire pizza by herself. Needless to say she walked halfway to Rome the next morning.
Wednesday was Bronzino day. Bronzino was a Renaissance painter and there was a showing of his work at the Palazzo Strozzi we wanted to see. It was awesome because the collection included works from here in Florence and others flown in from private collections and galleries around the world. What a great opportunity to see his paintings all in one place. Beautiful! After Bronzino we met Adri and Stefania for dinner at the Borgo, where we had another fabulous meal and practically closed the place down. Emily, our favorite waitress (and Andrea's girlfriend) is from Sweden. When Adri learned that, she started chatting with her in Swedish. Swedish? Are you kidding? We hate her.
Thursday we bought beautiful purses designed by Alessandra. At dinner the night before Stefania and Adri told Tammi her Ameri-bag travel purse, which she shamelessly carries at home, had to go and I should get my haircut here in Florence. They're determined to make Italian women out of us yet. A haircut was going to cost more than the olive oil but Alessandra gave us such a good deal on the purses we had to buy one. Tam's walking pretty proud now.
Friday we visited Palazzo Davanzanti and then stopped by a profumeria to see if they might have anything strong enough to tackle our apartment smell. Why didn't anybody tell us about THAT weeks ago? It smelled so good in there we could have moved in. We found sheets of paper you burn in a bowl. Good thing these old apartments don't have smoke detectors. You can't see across the room after you burn one but the smell is gone. Later we picked up the cute little Smart Car and headed to Orvieto. More on that later!
Tuesday we broke down and went to Mama's bakery, a place down the street that caters to American clients. They sell bagels and muffins and large cups of American style coffee. We've been avoiding it like the plague. Turns out we should have gone there weeks ago. It was filled with ladies who've lived here for years and speak Italian at a speed we can understand. They had suggestions for everything, including the best way to mail packages back to the states. That one was key...we've bought a lot of olive oil. We went to the post office to check prices. That's an interesting system. You use a machine to select a specific activity and it gives you a number and letter combination. It's like Bingo because you wait for that combination to come up on a board and you go to the designated window to transact that specific activity. I wonder what happens if you want to do TWO things? Anyway, we understood enough Italian to realize shipping all that oil home meant we couldn't eat for two days, which might not have been a bad thing given the calories we're consuming. The average cost of each bottle is now about $100 but we had to buy it. You just can't get the same stuff at home. That's our story and we're sticking to it.
Tuesday night was our much anticipated pizza making lesson. Miguel prefaced it by stressing how hard it is to make good pizza, takes years of practice, it must be in the blood, etc. Seriousamente, how hard could it be? After watching him deftly hand shape, dress and bake a pizza in the wood oven in under three minutes we gave it a whirl. Twenty minutes later Miguel dramatically threw our efforts in the trash, handed us a rolling pin and said try again. He was right. Good pizza is hard to make but it was really fun to try. We finally turned out a couple good enough that Tammi ate an entire pizza by herself. Needless to say she walked halfway to Rome the next morning.
Wednesday was Bronzino day. Bronzino was a Renaissance painter and there was a showing of his work at the Palazzo Strozzi we wanted to see. It was awesome because the collection included works from here in Florence and others flown in from private collections and galleries around the world. What a great opportunity to see his paintings all in one place. Beautiful! After Bronzino we met Adri and Stefania for dinner at the Borgo, where we had another fabulous meal and practically closed the place down. Emily, our favorite waitress (and Andrea's girlfriend) is from Sweden. When Adri learned that, she started chatting with her in Swedish. Swedish? Are you kidding? We hate her.
Thursday we bought beautiful purses designed by Alessandra. At dinner the night before Stefania and Adri told Tammi her Ameri-bag travel purse, which she shamelessly carries at home, had to go and I should get my haircut here in Florence. They're determined to make Italian women out of us yet. A haircut was going to cost more than the olive oil but Alessandra gave us such a good deal on the purses we had to buy one. Tam's walking pretty proud now.
Friday we visited Palazzo Davanzanti and then stopped by a profumeria to see if they might have anything strong enough to tackle our apartment smell. Why didn't anybody tell us about THAT weeks ago? It smelled so good in there we could have moved in. We found sheets of paper you burn in a bowl. Good thing these old apartments don't have smoke detectors. You can't see across the room after you burn one but the smell is gone. Later we picked up the cute little Smart Car and headed to Orvieto. More on that later!
Monday, September 27, 2010
BBQ to Boobies. What a week!
Wednesday night Alessandra invited us to her house with some other friends for BBQ Italian style. Someone once told us the average American dies with seven pounds of undigested red meat in their stomachs. We now have about ten pounds and cholesterol off the charts but that dinner was worth it. Great company, a delicious cheese plate and beautiful Florentine steaks and kebobs. Alessandra was a terrific hostess and her home and garden are lovely. Thank you so much for inviting us!
Thursday we picked up a rental car and braved the streets of Florence for a drive into the Tuscan countryside. We were on an olive oil hunt and drove three years ago so weren't too worried about giving it another whirl, except for the dreaded roundabouts. On our last trip we just drove in, kept going in a circle and hoped we got spit out in the right direction. After a day of that we really, really needed a drink. I always drive while Tammi navigates. She's getting pretty quick at spotting the signs but we were both a little rusty so we did get stuck in one roundabout and got just a teeny bit lost getting out of Florence. We didn't really need a drink but we got one anyway in Radda. It was as cute as before but we hit it at siesta so couldn't see that store where we all bought artwork last time. They did however have olive oil.
Anyway, we ended up in Cortona, a nice hilltop town where we thought we could practice speaking with the locals. Thanks to Francis Mayes and her little novel Cortona is now more American than the states. We did meet two really nice ladies from Texas who were driving around Italy and headed down to Positano. We told them from experience they don't make American cajones big enough to drive on that road so please post on our blog that they're alive. The next day we headed back to Florence by way of some olive oil fattorias. Tammi told me first thing she was on her game navigation wise so we were both surprised when we followed a large sign with an obvious arrow to what we thought was a olive oil vender. Five miles later and a drive to the summit of Mount Olympus in our little Fiat 500 (which isn't made for offroad driving) we gave up and headed back to the main road. A bit later we found a
different entrance to the same vendor where a nice guy explained to us, all in Italian, how they pick and produce the oil. Very cool. Apparently only the older people are willing to pick the olives because they get paid in oil rather than cash. The younger ones won't do the work. That's the trouble with kids these days. They need to get their priorities straight.
I haven't mentioned the smell in our apartment for a while but just so you know, it's still there. After being closed up for two days we took a deep breath before entering and quickly threw open the windows. Dinner Friday night was at the Borgo, the local haunt run by our friend Miguel. Too many wines later (all on the house) we crawled into bed at 3:00am. Seriousamente, what's the deal with Italian wine? It's a good thing we don't live here
because we can really drink this stuff and never seem to feel it. Don't get me wrong, we weren't exactly chipper on Saturday but it could have been a lot worse.
Sunday we walked 5k in the "Corri la Vita" race for breast health. We figured we could get exercise and help support boobs at the same time. Unfortunately we signed up late so they were out of t-shirts, which were sponsored by Ferragamo. Huge bummer because, after seeing the prices at the Ferragamo store that was about as close as we were going to come to wearing Ferragamo. The race was more of a stroll, actually, with participants wandering in and out of museums and churches along the way. It really messed up Tammi's pace tracker. It took about an hour and a half to walk. Only in Europe will you see people smoking as they race for breast health, which is really funny because you had to supply a health certificate to race the 12k. It was fun though and afterwards we walked up to the San Miniato church, which is amazing. By the time we got back home we'd logged 6 miles. We discovered a panini stand in our piazza we've walked by a hundred times and had the best lunch ever sitting on the steps of the Santo Spirito church. We'll definitely be going back there. Capped off the night with dinner at a place down the street we thought was a locals hangout. We were almost the only ones in there and they seated us next to a couple from Texas. Those Texans really get around. Apparently all the locals came in later and sat up front but the waiter took pity on us and we
chatted with him a while. One of these days we're going to get the hang of this language and they'll seat us with the locals.
Happy birthday Dani! We love you lots!!
Thursday we picked up a rental car and braved the streets of Florence for a drive into the Tuscan countryside. We were on an olive oil hunt and drove three years ago so weren't too worried about giving it another whirl, except for the dreaded roundabouts. On our last trip we just drove in, kept going in a circle and hoped we got spit out in the right direction. After a day of that we really, really needed a drink. I always drive while Tammi navigates. She's getting pretty quick at spotting the signs but we were both a little rusty so we did get stuck in one roundabout and got just a teeny bit lost getting out of Florence. We didn't really need a drink but we got one anyway in Radda. It was as cute as before but we hit it at siesta so couldn't see that store where we all bought artwork last time. They did however have olive oil.
Anyway, we ended up in Cortona, a nice hilltop town where we thought we could practice speaking with the locals. Thanks to Francis Mayes and her little novel Cortona is now more American than the states. We did meet two really nice ladies from Texas who were driving around Italy and headed down to Positano. We told them from experience they don't make American cajones big enough to drive on that road so please post on our blog that they're alive. The next day we headed back to Florence by way of some olive oil fattorias. Tammi told me first thing she was on her game navigation wise so we were both surprised when we followed a large sign with an obvious arrow to what we thought was a olive oil vender. Five miles later and a drive to the summit of Mount Olympus in our little Fiat 500 (which isn't made for offroad driving) we gave up and headed back to the main road. A bit later we found a
different entrance to the same vendor where a nice guy explained to us, all in Italian, how they pick and produce the oil. Very cool. Apparently only the older people are willing to pick the olives because they get paid in oil rather than cash. The younger ones won't do the work. That's the trouble with kids these days. They need to get their priorities straight.
I haven't mentioned the smell in our apartment for a while but just so you know, it's still there. After being closed up for two days we took a deep breath before entering and quickly threw open the windows. Dinner Friday night was at the Borgo, the local haunt run by our friend Miguel. Too many wines later (all on the house) we crawled into bed at 3:00am. Seriousamente, what's the deal with Italian wine? It's a good thing we don't live here
because we can really drink this stuff and never seem to feel it. Don't get me wrong, we weren't exactly chipper on Saturday but it could have been a lot worse.
Sunday we walked 5k in the "Corri la Vita" race for breast health. We figured we could get exercise and help support boobs at the same time. Unfortunately we signed up late so they were out of t-shirts, which were sponsored by Ferragamo. Huge bummer because, after seeing the prices at the Ferragamo store that was about as close as we were going to come to wearing Ferragamo. The race was more of a stroll, actually, with participants wandering in and out of museums and churches along the way. It really messed up Tammi's pace tracker. It took about an hour and a half to walk. Only in Europe will you see people smoking as they race for breast health, which is really funny because you had to supply a health certificate to race the 12k. It was fun though and afterwards we walked up to the San Miniato church, which is amazing. By the time we got back home we'd logged 6 miles. We discovered a panini stand in our piazza we've walked by a hundred times and had the best lunch ever sitting on the steps of the Santo Spirito church. We'll definitely be going back there. Capped off the night with dinner at a place down the street we thought was a locals hangout. We were almost the only ones in there and they seated us next to a couple from Texas. Those Texans really get around. Apparently all the locals came in later and sat up front but the waiter took pity on us and we
chatted with him a while. One of these days we're going to get the hang of this language and they'll seat us with the locals.
Happy birthday Dani! We love you lots!!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Pictures!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Sometimes you just have to put yourself out there
We didn't have much planned today but it turned out to be a real winner. Tammi and I hit the market here at Santo Spirito where there were mostly household items and kid clothes. It amazes us that it can be so different from one day to the next. There's a little store at the far end of the piazza that sells grains and dried pastas and the proprietor is a man named Giovanne. Every morning as we leave the piazza we stick our heads into his shop to say hi, and every time we leave his store we wonder what the heck he just said. Giovanne speaks in what was explained to us as a dialect of a dialect of a dialect of Florence. I mean, a guy like Giovanne can really make you feel like all the money you've spent on Italian lessons was a huge waste of time. He's the nicest guy though, so we tell ourselves it's a real test of our skills. This morning, after a lot of nodding and hand gestures we were pretty sure we understood him to invite us to see his canoeing club down by the Ponte Vecchio where he'd be around 2:00. We were to ring a bell at the green door and say we were looking for Giovanne. Wow, we were either on to something really special or we were about to be sold into a prostitution ring. We decided to just go for it because it might be something most people just don't get to see. Turns out the canoeing club is a private beach club down on the river, just below the bridge, where members row in beautiful canoes and outriggers. There's a lovely grass beach, a restaurant and workout room, an indoor pool for rowing practice and a great card room where the club trophies are kept. Giovanne walked us literally under the Ponte Vecchio, pointing out cracks in the structure, while explaining that the old tunnel that houses all this stuff was actually used by the Medici horse guard to get access to the river from the Uffizzi palace above. At least that's what we think he said. Very cool, and very nice of Giovanne to ask us to join him.
We walked from there back to our side of the river and had lunch at a little spot we've been wanting to try, the Quattro Leone, where we were treated to a glass of prosecco before a delicious lunch of arugula salad, pasta and fresh white beans. And a half liter of house white wine. We struck up a conversation in Italian with the Albanian waiter and then wandered our way towards home so we could go for a nice long walk and burn off some of these calories. As we walked through our piazza Miguel, the proprietor of one of the restaurants here, stopped us and offered a glass of prosecco, on the house. A side note here...when you ask for the check in Italian you say "il conto per favore". We met Miguel when Tammi was on the way to the bathroom and rather hurriedly asked him for the check, but she said instead " il canto per favore", which means "the song please". Miguel broke out in a lovely aria, much to Tam's embarrassment. Anyway, Miguel, like Giovanne, is a true gentleman and conversed with us over our second free prosecco of the afternoon. We left there an hour later. Seven miles wasn't enough to burn off the afternoon's damage but it helped. After we got cleaned up we went back down to the piazza where our "guys" were happy to see us again and encouraged us to come down tomorrow for more conversation. They really are harmless and who knows what other doors that might open. Like we said, sometimes you just have to put yourself out there.
We walked from there back to our side of the river and had lunch at a little spot we've been wanting to try, the Quattro Leone, where we were treated to a glass of prosecco before a delicious lunch of arugula salad, pasta and fresh white beans. And a half liter of house white wine. We struck up a conversation in Italian with the Albanian waiter and then wandered our way towards home so we could go for a nice long walk and burn off some of these calories. As we walked through our piazza Miguel, the proprietor of one of the restaurants here, stopped us and offered a glass of prosecco, on the house. A side note here...when you ask for the check in Italian you say "il conto per favore". We met Miguel when Tammi was on the way to the bathroom and rather hurriedly asked him for the check, but she said instead " il canto per favore", which means "the song please". Miguel broke out in a lovely aria, much to Tam's embarrassment. Anyway, Miguel, like Giovanne, is a true gentleman and conversed with us over our second free prosecco of the afternoon. We left there an hour later. Seven miles wasn't enough to burn off the afternoon's damage but it helped. After we got cleaned up we went back down to the piazza where our "guys" were happy to see us again and encouraged us to come down tomorrow for more conversation. They really are harmless and who knows what other doors that might open. Like we said, sometimes you just have to put yourself out there.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Seriousamente! It's not a real word but it's catching on.
Great girls night out and we did in fact find a good martini at a great locals bar a few blocks from here. As the drinks started working our words started flowing and our comfort level went up. Tammi was on a roll at one point and exclaimed "seriousamente!", which earned a laugh from the girls. The right word is apparently "seriamente" but Tammi insists hers is better and it's catching on. We'll leave Italy in a few weeks but "seriousamente" is here to stay!
The next night Adri's friend Alessandra invited us all to an art show at the Palazzo Medici. After that dinner at Napo Leone over in Piazza Carmine. It was fabulous and in the same piazza as the martini bar and Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, so we can eat, drink and confess our sins all in one place. A very convenient little piazza. Anyway, "Le cinque belle donne"(we five beautiful women) had a lovely time and Alessandra asked us all over to her house Wednesday for a BBQ Italian style. Her boyfriend is going to cook for us, lucky devil. A huge thanks to Adri and all our new friends for making us feel so welcome!
More sight-seeing Friday and we must admit we succumbed to a hankering for the fresh white beans at Antinori. Lunch was more than dinner and drinks the night before, so we won't do
that again. We met Stefania and her husband in their neighbored at Bar Giorgio, where they treated us to drinks and a great raw shellfish plate, and yes, I did eat it. Tammi says I might have even eaten raw sea bass but she's not sure. Mom will be so proud. Just when we thought the night couldn't get better Massimo and Stefania took us to their flat where Massimo whipped up an unbelievably good pasta and cheese plate and after dinner Vin Santo made by Stefania's dad. Joe, Tammi says you would have been in heaven. He even had those little sandwich cookies you had in Paris. Now, if we can just wrangle an invitation to the home of whoever is cooking what's coming through our window right now!
Saturday we wandered the medieval section around Dante's old haunt and stopped into a beautiful church for an organ concert before dinner. We were both trying to shake off our frustration over getting roped into table service at lunch, which doubled the price. We know better and won't do that again either. Back to the martini bar last night. Three martinis later we strolled ( no, we didn't crawl) through a major thunderstorm back to our piazza and landed in a quaint little trattoria for yes another 11:00pm pasta dinner. Oh, and more wine,
and a limoncello, on the house. We charmed the owner with our Italian. Remember that church I mentioned earlier? Tammi's over there now praying to be able to walk on water. She thinks she'll need to walk back to Florida to burn up all these calories. What is it about this Italian alcohol? We popped out of bed this morning and hit the organic market down on the square. There's nothing like this at home. Parmesan wheels the size of truck tires, fresh breads and gourmet paninis, pestos, olive oils, fruits and veggies, yumm. Ok, more later. We're strapping on our walking shoes. Vegetable broth for dinner at home tonight.
The next night Adri's friend Alessandra invited us all to an art show at the Palazzo Medici. After that dinner at Napo Leone over in Piazza Carmine. It was fabulous and in the same piazza as the martini bar and Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, so we can eat, drink and confess our sins all in one place. A very convenient little piazza. Anyway, "Le cinque belle donne"(we five beautiful women) had a lovely time and Alessandra asked us all over to her house Wednesday for a BBQ Italian style. Her boyfriend is going to cook for us, lucky devil. A huge thanks to Adri and all our new friends for making us feel so welcome!
More sight-seeing Friday and we must admit we succumbed to a hankering for the fresh white beans at Antinori. Lunch was more than dinner and drinks the night before, so we won't do
that again. We met Stefania and her husband in their neighbored at Bar Giorgio, where they treated us to drinks and a great raw shellfish plate, and yes, I did eat it. Tammi says I might have even eaten raw sea bass but she's not sure. Mom will be so proud. Just when we thought the night couldn't get better Massimo and Stefania took us to their flat where Massimo whipped up an unbelievably good pasta and cheese plate and after dinner Vin Santo made by Stefania's dad. Joe, Tammi says you would have been in heaven. He even had those little sandwich cookies you had in Paris. Now, if we can just wrangle an invitation to the home of whoever is cooking what's coming through our window right now!
Saturday we wandered the medieval section around Dante's old haunt and stopped into a beautiful church for an organ concert before dinner. We were both trying to shake off our frustration over getting roped into table service at lunch, which doubled the price. We know better and won't do that again either. Back to the martini bar last night. Three martinis later we strolled ( no, we didn't crawl) through a major thunderstorm back to our piazza and landed in a quaint little trattoria for yes another 11:00pm pasta dinner. Oh, and more wine,
and a limoncello, on the house. We charmed the owner with our Italian. Remember that church I mentioned earlier? Tammi's over there now praying to be able to walk on water. She thinks she'll need to walk back to Florida to burn up all these calories. What is it about this Italian alcohol? We popped out of bed this morning and hit the organic market down on the square. There's nothing like this at home. Parmesan wheels the size of truck tires, fresh breads and gourmet paninis, pestos, olive oils, fruits and veggies, yumm. Ok, more later. We're strapping on our walking shoes. Vegetable broth for dinner at home tonight.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Come si dice "blisters"?
It's been a nice couple of days but our feet are a little worse for wear. 500 year old cobblestones can do a number on your tootsies, comfort shoes or not, and we have been logging some miles. Can you imagine trudging around on these streets wearing the kind of shoes those poor 15th century women must have been strapped into? Not sure about Tammi, but I need more bandaids.
Monday night we went down to a bar called "Volume" for an after dinner drink and some conversation. This place was highly recommended by Stefano and is another that just happens to be steps from our door. It was loud and crowded when we arrived but cleared out after a bit and we were left almost alone thinking we'd struggle yet again to find conversations in Italian. Just then the manager, a young guy named Neri, sat and patiently chatted with us, correcting our grammar and suggesting things we could do to practice. He was busy with the bar and certainly didn't need to play teacher to a couple of middle-aged women. We did look kind of hot so we like to think he was seeing if he might get lucky (he did not). Yesterday we walked to Le Cascine to a weekly flea market. It was very crowded so we trudged back to our side of the river and over to the Boboli Gardens behind the Palazzo Pitti. A 16th century wonder of 15-20 acres, it's a rambling masterpiece, although a bit in need of TLC. One thing
it isn't short on is hills and we climbed them all. At some point we decided we didn't care if the guidebook said it was a must see or not, we were not taking another step. A gelato was
in order, then straight back to the apartment for some R&R. I'll leave out the part about
almost getting hit by the minivan. By the time we put our feet up at home we'd walked 6 or 7
miles.
Later we walked over to Adri's house for dinner with her and her beautiful daughters. It was an absolutely perfect evening and, as we told her, the best food we'd eaten since arriving. We both want the recipe for the veal meatballs and the bacon wrapped prunes. What a treat to share a family dinner at someone's home here in Florence. It's something most "tourists" don't get do. We stayed long enough that she suggested we take a cab home. She didn't have to convince us. It was another 2 miles back home and my feet said no way.
Today the Mercato San Lorenzo and then we met Adri for a long walk in the hills above Florence. Another 7 miles. We're at home now resting up for tonight. Adri and two of her friends are taking us out for girl's night. They know a good martini spot not far from here. Sounds great, but it better not be too far!
A couple more observations before signing off...
1. Dogs can apparently go just about anywhere here. Restaurants, stores, no problem.
2. The towels in our apartment make great skin exfoliaters. They would also make great sandpaper.
3. Contrary to what Tammi thinks, it's not my feet. The apartment really does smell.
Monday night we went down to a bar called "Volume" for an after dinner drink and some conversation. This place was highly recommended by Stefano and is another that just happens to be steps from our door. It was loud and crowded when we arrived but cleared out after a bit and we were left almost alone thinking we'd struggle yet again to find conversations in Italian. Just then the manager, a young guy named Neri, sat and patiently chatted with us, correcting our grammar and suggesting things we could do to practice. He was busy with the bar and certainly didn't need to play teacher to a couple of middle-aged women. We did look kind of hot so we like to think he was seeing if he might get lucky (he did not). Yesterday we walked to Le Cascine to a weekly flea market. It was very crowded so we trudged back to our side of the river and over to the Boboli Gardens behind the Palazzo Pitti. A 16th century wonder of 15-20 acres, it's a rambling masterpiece, although a bit in need of TLC. One thing
it isn't short on is hills and we climbed them all. At some point we decided we didn't care if the guidebook said it was a must see or not, we were not taking another step. A gelato was
in order, then straight back to the apartment for some R&R. I'll leave out the part about
almost getting hit by the minivan. By the time we put our feet up at home we'd walked 6 or 7
miles.
Later we walked over to Adri's house for dinner with her and her beautiful daughters. It was an absolutely perfect evening and, as we told her, the best food we'd eaten since arriving. We both want the recipe for the veal meatballs and the bacon wrapped prunes. What a treat to share a family dinner at someone's home here in Florence. It's something most "tourists" don't get do. We stayed long enough that she suggested we take a cab home. She didn't have to convince us. It was another 2 miles back home and my feet said no way.
Today the Mercato San Lorenzo and then we met Adri for a long walk in the hills above Florence. Another 7 miles. We're at home now resting up for tonight. Adri and two of her friends are taking us out for girl's night. They know a good martini spot not far from here. Sounds great, but it better not be too far!
A couple more observations before signing off...
1. Dogs can apparently go just about anywhere here. Restaurants, stores, no problem.
2. The towels in our apartment make great skin exfoliaters. They would also make great sandpaper.
3. Contrary to what Tammi thinks, it's not my feet. The apartment really does smell.
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